Two South Korean shipyards have postponed the delivery of 17 gas carriers ordered for the Mozambique LNG project until 2028 and 2029. The project, valued at more than 20 billion dollars, is led by Total Energies, a French petrochemical company.

The South Korean shipyards HD Hyundai Group and Samsung Heavy Industries have rescheduled the delivery of these ships for 2028 and 2029, according to the Mozambican Information Agency (AIM).

The order has been delayed, but is still in progress, pending the lifting of the "force majeure" clause invoked to halt construction work on the logistics base in Afungi, Palma district, Cabo Delgado province, where the project is being implemented.

The information is provided by TradeWinds, a global LNG shipping source and information aggregator platform on the LNG industry, citing the contracted shipyards.

"The delivery of gas carriers from Mozambique has been formally postponed to 2028 and 2029," TradeWinds said, quoted by the agency.

The publication writes that sources informed about the deal said that the agreements signed with HD Hyundai Group shipyards and Samsung Heavy Industries on the ships were contracted by four shipowners due to the agreements made with the long-term project, and due to the readjusted schedule of activities by Mozambique LNG, which is due to resume work in Cabo Delgado.

These gassers will transport liquefied natural gas from the liquefaction units to the natural gas regasification points, located on land near the distribution points.

These gasifiers are essential during the process of producing gas and exporting it to the markets. Therefore, the postponement leads us to believe that if the project is resumed soon, as the latest developments indicate, it will be possible to start production in Afungi in 2028 and 2029.

While orders for the Total Energies project are being delayed, the Coral Sul FLNG Mozambique project vessel, operated by Italy's ENI in the deep waters of Cabo Delgado, has reached a satisfactory production milestone.

Liquefaction technology supplier Air Products says that Coral South FLNG has passed the performance test.

Air-Products is a US multinational whose main business is the sale of gases and chemicals for industrial use, which has announced that its technology and equipment for processing Liquefied Natural Gas with a double mixture of refrigerants has passed the performance test, reaching a production of more than 3.4 million tons per year.

According to information published on the LNG Prime website, the company reaffirms the efficiency of the process. "The efficiency of the AP-DMR process, combined with the use of aeroderivative machinery, translates into a lower carbon intensity than all other LNG processes in floating service," writes the portal quoting the company.

He explains that the company's involvement with the FLNG project began in 2013 with conceptual work, resulting in the selection of the AP-DMR LNG process technology and equipment.